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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
July 14, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
July 15, 2004
INSHORE - The snapper bite is here with mangroves to 3 pounds being reported in the Inlets and all along the channel edges of the Intercoastal. Just find some structure and have plenty of bait like live shrimp or small greenies. The area just north of the North Bridge in Ft. Pierce has been the best place to fish. The night time snapper fishing in the Inlets has also been good when using the same baits.
The trout have been just about everywhere from the Mooring Flats in south Vero Beach all the way down to the flats just north of the Jensen Beach Causeway. Most of the bigger trout are in the deeper water - 4 to 6 feet and by far a live pigfish or a top water bait are the best way to go. The redfish have been difficult to find this past week with only a handful being reported. The few that were reported came from the dock line along South Indian River Drive and were caught early in the morning.
The catch and release snook action has also been good with reports coming from the St. Lucie and Ft. Pierce Inlets. Fish to 30 pounds have been released by anglers using live mullet or greenies. The best tide seems to be the end of the out going. The snook action on the flats has been a little slow for the bigger fish but there has been a lot of small snook around the mangroves on the high tide. I got a call from Jerry Harvey about his 7 year old grandson Jake Harvey. Jake caught and released a 31 & 1/2 inch snook while fishing along a seawall in Lighthouse Point.
There have been a lot of tarpon spotted along the Intercoastal from Vero Beach south to Jensen Beach, but only a few are getting hooked up. You may want to try the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. There have been reports of big tarpon there as well as big jack and catch and release snook.
All of the area's bridges are holding just about the same thing -- snapper, sheepshead, flounder and black drum. Most of these fish are being caught on live shrimp.
SURF - The surf fishing for whiting has been excellent down south of the Nuclear Power Plant. There has also been a few spanish mackerel and sandperch mixed in with the whiting.
OFFSHORE - Lots of fish are being reported but everyone is looking for dolphin and they have been scattered with one here and one there. I did receive a decent report on Tuesday with fish to 16 pounds coming from 130 feet of water just north of the St. Lucie Inlet.
The kingfish have been everywhere from 15 to 60 feet of water. Find the birds and you will find the fish. The big catch being reported this week were the 2 big wahoo that came into the docks, one was between 85 & 90 pounds and came from 240 feet and one that went 65 pounds and was caught in 120 feet of water, both were out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet.
I had several nice cobia to 30 pounds reported this week. They were caught off the Six Mile Reef out of the St. Lucie Inlet. The sailfish action has been steady with several releases being reported. Some fish were released in 90 to 140 feet of water out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet and from along the Eight Mile Reef out of the St. Lucie Inlet.
TEEN ANGLERS - The local chapter of the National Teen Anglers held their tournament on July 11th for Teen Angler of the Year. In the middle school division Alex Shaffer of Forest Grove Middle School took top honors. 2nd place was a tie between Richard Salamak and Justin Rader, both of North Port Middle School and 3rd place went to Hannah Kline also of Forest Grove. In the high school division Taylor Purcell of Westwood High School took 1st place -- 2nd went to Walter Mitchell, also of Westwood and 3rd went to David Kanbar of Port St. Lucie High. The biggest fish of the tournament went to Richard Salamak and the new boater award went to Mike Maxwell. The new tournament season will start in September. If you are interested in becoming a Teen Angler just go to the website at www.teenanglers.org and sign up. You don't want to miss out on a full filled year of fishing.
If you would like to report a catch call me at 772-201-5770 or e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also contact me on the web at www.captjoeward.com
Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters
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